Orchid of the day: Ascofinetia Cherry Blossom Carmela

Ascofinetia Cherry Blossom Carmela, a cross between  Neofinetia falcata x Ascocentrum ampullaceum, is a compact vandaceous type orchid that can be easily grown in bark or moss in pots or basket. In our case, Arne has it in a wooden airy basket. I started photographing when Arne noticed the flower stalk in early April.

Neofinetia falcata, is a native orchid of Japan while Ascocentrum ampullaceum, another mini vandaceous orchid is native to the more subtropical to tropical rain forest regions such as, Central China, Western & Eastern Himalayas, Assam India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam and Laos to name a few countries.

Interestingly, Arne bought a Neofinetia falcata, while he was at the Maryland Orchid Exhibition in March this year. Did you know that Neofinetia falcata was the favorite of the ruling Shoguns in Japan? Well, we'll talk about that orchid when it flowers!

A) April 13th. One stalk appeared.

B) April 13th. Further close up of the flower stalk.

C) April 28th. Two weeks later, we can clearly see two distinct flower stalks. It was still hard to determine how many flowers per stalk at that time. But there were going to be many!

D) May 18th. Most of the flowers were in bloom. These photos were really up close and I decided to add my dog, Anthony to the mix.

E) May 18th. Anthony providing some perspective to the size of this mini orchid. I think he is getting used to posing next to an orchid!

F) May 18th. A close up. A cluster of mini vandas!

G) May 26th, Memorial Day 2014, Ascofinetia Cherry Blossom Carmela, in full bloom.

Now that our Ascofinetia Cherry Blossom Carmela is in full bloom, we can safely say, we have two stalks and 25 flowers per stalk. A grand total of 50 flowers! FYI, Arne got this orchid at the Maryland Orchid Exhibition two years ago. 

Orchid of the day: Paphiopedilum philippinense

Paphiopedilum philippinense is native to the Philippines and Northern Borneo. This orchid is found at sea level and up to elevations of 500 meter on limestone cliffs & boulders. The flowers are large, almost 9 inches or 22.5 cm in size, with beautiful corkscrew sepal and with brown purple inflorescence. The leaves are thick, clear and glossy green. 

Paphiopedilum philippinense is estimated to produce 3 to 5 flowers at a single time. In the wild, peak flowering season is between January and April. There are 2 other varieties & forms of this orchid; Paphipedilum philippinense fma alboflavum (albino form) and Paphipedilum philippinense var. roebelenii.

A) April 4th 2014. Flower stem slowly growing.

B) Close up of the flower stem. 

C) April 7th. It looks like we could have four flowers at this point.

D) April 13th.

E) April 22nd. Some of the buds were opening up and we thought we would see five flowers.

F) April 28th. It turns out 6 flowers were developing.

Our Paphipedilum philippinense appeared to exceed expectations. The buds began to come out in April and to our surprise, we ended up with six flowers instead of three to five flowers as stated in the different orchid websites about this orchid. It was around April 28th that we noticed a clear 6th bud.

G) May 4th. The weather was great and almost all the flowers were in full bloom. Anthony decided to join in. 

H) May 19th. All flowers completely open and looked exotically beautiful.

I) A different angle of all 6 flowers in full bloom.

J) Frontal close up

K) Side profile close up

The length of our flowers were been 18 to 20 cm or 7 to 9 inches. This is quite a specimen! I hope the flowers would last 2 to 4 weeks more.  As you can see, this post is a real labor of love. Please enjoy and share these photos.

Orchid of the day: Cattleya walkeriana 'Kenny'.

Today's post is another 'from-buds-to-blooming-flowers' series. We followed the development of buds since early April this year and decided to see how many flowers would turned out. Arne said this orchid might not be what they say it is. He wrote a paragraph to expand on this 'issue'. All I know it is a Cattleya and it does exude a pleasant and tolerable perfume especially in the mornings and mildly throughout the day.

A) April 8th. We noticed buds creeping out.

B) April 8th. Buds were visible within the leaf. At this time only two appeared.

C) April 22nd. Next thing you know, more than a week went by and it turned out three buds were already well developed. We kept this orchid in our orchidarium in the basement.

D) The three flower buds at a different angle.

E) A few days later, the buds continued to developed.

Below is Arne's contribution to my post about this orchid. 

"Although I have several ‘natural-looking’ orchid hybrids in my collection, I always prefer species.  So when I visited Maryland’s annual orchid exhibition three years ago, I was really happy to find a white variety of Cattleya walkeriana for sale at Seagrove Orchids.  I have been very lucky with the walkeriana that I have at home so I bought it.  Linda Thorne at Seagrove Orchids did mention that ‘Kenny’ was a beautiful orchid but whether it was a true variety of C. walkeriana or a hybrid of it was not known.  My other walkeriana is mounted but this plant was sold in a small pot and had two buds so I didn’t dare to put in on a cork mount until it had flowered.  My first thought was that it was strange that the buds emerged from a maturing shoot.  In C. walkeriana the flower stem emerges in the form of a leafless shoot, normally without any leaf, from the base of the matured vegetative growth.  Then it was the fragrance; it didn’t smell like a walkeriana flower, simply.  Also, once ‘Kenny’ started growing on its mount I noticed how it attached itself loosely and not like walkeriana, which cannot be separated from the cork slab.  Now when I look at it I’m completely convinced that the plant is not a walkeriana.  To make a long story short, I searched for information about ‘Kenny’ and it is now established, supposedly, that C. walkeriana ‘Kenny’ is a hybrid called Cattleya Snowblind ‘Kenny’ and contains, in addition to walkeriana, also C. dolosa and C. loddigesii.  However, C. dolosa is a natural hybrid between walkeriana and loddigesi, which makes Cattleya Snowblind ‘Kenny’ a beautiful white primary hybrid between the two species loddigesi and walkeriana." By Arne Schon.

F) May 2014. The flowers have been in bloom since the beginning of May but this photo is taken today May 11th, on Mother's day. Each flower is about 3 inches from left to right.

G) Up close of the three gorgeous flowers. Now our Cattleya walkeriana 'Kenny' resides in our study window to get more light and space.

I hope you enjoyed this post and the beauty of these flowers. So far it has been 2 weeks since the flowers bloomed. They would probably last for another three to four weeks. Until next time, Happy Mother's Day.

Orchid of the day: Psychopsis Mendenhall Hildos

This orchid is a primary hybrid i.e. only two species involved and it was formerly included in the genus Oncidium but was reclassified several years ago based on taxanomic differences. The genus Psychopsis is popularly known as "butterfly orchids" and native to Central and South America. This genus produces large elaborate flowers in shades of bright orange and yellow. 

A) April 9th, flower stems from the previous year.

Psychopsis should only be watered once a week if in a clay pot with bark mix, of course it depends on the surrounding humidity and temperature. This particular orchid produces well-shaped flowers and was awarded the First Class Certification (FCC) in 2004. According to Arne, this orchid is the easiest to cultivate in his collection. Since it requires minimal care i.e. watering and lots of light. We have it next to our study window all year round.

B) Close up of the stem.

Our Psychopsis Mendenhall Hildos is a reliable bloomer and we have had it for 3 years. This orchid flowered twice every year and the same flower stems keep producing flowers for more than three years.

C) May 8th, flowers emerged from the stems.

D) A beautiful afternoon to take a photo outdoors.

E) Up close from the top (Anthony's tail to the left).

F) Close up of the beautiful flower.

Orchid of the day: Paphiopedilum delenatii

It has been more than one week since I posted. I have been waiting and waiting for at least 3 different orchids to flower! I will be posting more photos of our orchids this week. Let me start with Paphiopedilum delenatii which was named after Delanat, a French orchid enthuasist of the 1900s. 

Paphiopedilum delenatii is native to the southeastern region of Vietnam at elevations of 800 to 1300 meters. These plants survive in granite pebbles and mossy tree trunks, usually in shady areas near water. Paphiopedilum delenatii was first discovered in 1903 when some returning French soldiers brought them back to France. This plant was believed to be extinct until it was rediscovered in the wild in 1993. 

A) January 29th. No flowers stalks were observed at this time. Note the mottled broadleaf. 

B) April 4th. Two flower stalks developed.  

 

C) April 7th. This orchid blooms in Spring with one or two flowers at a time.

D) April 28th. The flowers began to open up.

E) April 28th. Close up of the flower above.

F) May 3rd. Both flowers are finally opened. I decided to take this photo outside since the weather was nice.

G) May 3rd. More close ups of the flowers.

H) A super close up of a Paphiopedilum delenatii bloom. Note the pouch color that can range between pink and purple.

I) Paphiopedilum delenatii and Anthony on the back deck.